Button, Chota Nagpur Regiment, 1917-1947

Medium-sized, circular, brass button with a rearing cobra snake within an inverted horseshoe, bearing the unit abbreviation, ' C. N. Regt', surmounted by a crown.

The Chota Nagpore Division was part of Bengal during British rule. The Chota Nagpore Mounted Rifles was raised on 7 August 1891, as an auxiliary unit of the British Indian Army Cavalry Reserve. It was renamed the Chota Nagpur Light Cavalry in 1910. In 1917, during World War One (1914-1918), it became the Chota Nagpur Regiment (numbered 39), with both mounted and foot elements. When India gained independence in 1947 the unit was disbanded. The unit's headquarters was at Ranchi which was a large military base in World War Two and was also headquarters of the Chindits.

The association between Nagpore, or Nagpur, and the cobra comes from its former name, Fanindrapura, which was derived from 'fana', the Sanskrit word for the cobra's 'hood'.

From the Field Marshal Sir John Chapple Indian Army Collection.